US news agency opens North Korean bureau

The US-based Associated Press (AP) news agency has opened a news bureau in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang. It is the first major Western news organisation to do so, although agencies such as China's Xinhua also have a presence there. AP president Tom Curley said the bureau would operate under the same standards as other bureaux worldwide. All media outlets in North Korea are state-run. Most citizens have no access to the internet or foreign media. Visits by most foreign journalists are severely restricted and, if granted a visa, reporters are accompanied by government minders to carefully selected locations. AP said that the bureau would have two permanent North Korean reporters and would be supervised by two South Korean-based US journalists who would make regular visits. The news agency first established a presence in Pyongyang in 2006, when it opened a video bureau. The move comes a month after the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. His third son, Kim Jong-un, has been installed as his successor.